Pesch, van, family

Pesch, van, a Dutch Mennonite family, since about 1620 living at Utrecht, where many members served as deacons from 1668 until 1875. Originally they were tanners and fur traders, later furriers and bankers. Jacob van Pesch, a deacon, edited Joannes Houbakker's sermons (two volumes, published at Amsterdam in 1730 and 1732). There were also some members of the van Pesch family later at Rotterdam, Haarlem, and Amsterdam. Abraham van Pesch, b.1806 at Amsterdam, d. at Zutphen on 10 September 1850, studied at the Amsterdam Mennonite Seminary in 1826-1832 and was a minister in the congregations at Gorredijk-Lippenhuizen 1832-34, and Rotterdam 1834-41; he retired for a year because of illness, and then served at Uithuizen 1842-1844 and Zutphen 1845-1849. He published Het Doopsgezinde Kerkgenootschap gekenmerkt door het streven naar Vrijheid (Rotterdam, 1836). He also copied a large number of the old books and documents of the Rotterdam Mennonite archives; these copies are now in the [[Amsterdam Mennonite Library (Bibliotheek en Archief van de Vereenigde
Doopsgezinde Gemeente te Amsterdam)|Amsterdam Mennonite Library]].